This is probably the biggest non-story or newsworthy story of the day. I can't decide. Basically, Sony has begun selling stand-alone ATI OCUR CableCARD tuners, dubbed VAIO Digital TV Tuners, to customers online (via Engadget). The catch, according to Chris Lanier, “this will not work in your PC unless you specifically purchased a CableCARD-ready PC (you know if you did). It will not work in a non-CableCARD-ready PC. It requires a special BIOS and second COA (Product Key) to work, it doesn’t include these and you can’t get them without the purchase of a new CableCARD-ready PC. For more, see my Vista CableCARD FAQ.”
The question I have then is: Are CableCARD-ready PCs shipping configured for the max two CableCARD tuners? If yes, this is great news because it means you can buy a single tuner PC and then later add on one of these babies (as long as it's the same model as the one you have) without much headache. If no, this news has no real significance other than Sony being the first OEM to sell additional CableCARD tuners to customers of their PCs.
UPDATE: I just got an email from Chris Lanier answering the question I put forth. (Thanks, Chris!) He writes:
Quote:
| Media Center can handle a max of two CableCARD tuners assuming the machine was configured as CableCARD/Digital Cable Ready (meaning it has the special BIOS and OCUR Product Key). Generally speaking, these PCs are sold with at least one Digital Cable Tuner, but Sony and HP both don't even offer a second tuner option (Sony until now that is). If you buy a second tuner, it will work without any sort of issues. Just plug in the USB, configure the tuner in Media Center just like you would with any other tuner. However, for more than two CableCARD tuners you would need to use a registry hack to enable Media Center to see if. This would be the same basic hack that has been around forever to get Media Center to see additional analog/digital tuners. |
|
Set as homepage 
|
Add to favorites 
|
